In recent years, a large number of bills have been handled on a daily basis in the fields of banking business, large-scale retail trade, etc. There is a service to classify and arrange bills according to denomination and fitness (degree of damage). In handling a large number of bills, each 100 bills are normally wrapped or bound for safekeeping. A bill arranging apparatus is proposed as a system for automating such a bill arrangement service. The bill arranging apparatus comprises a hopper unit, transport mechanism, inspection unit, pocket units, stacking/wrapping apparatus, etc. Unclassified bills are stacked and accommodated in the hopper unit. The transport mechanism picks up the bills one by one from the hopper unit. The inspection unit inspects the transported bills for denomination and fitness levels. The inspected bills are classified by denomination and the like and stacked in the pocket units. The stacking/wrapping apparatus wraps or binds the bills stacked in piles of, for example, 100.
The stacking/wrapping apparatus generally comprises two stacking devices in which piles of 100 bills are stacked and a wrapping module disposed below them. The two stacking devices are arranged side by side. Further, the stacking/wrapping apparatus comprises a transport mechanism configured to transport the stacked bill bundles to the wrapping module. The transport mechanism comprises first and second carriers disposed for up-and-down motion in each of the stacking devices. The first carrier vertically transports the stacked bills. The second carrier is horizontally movable. The second carrier receives the bill bundles from each first carrier and transports and delivers them to the wrapping module.
In the stacking/wrapping apparatus constructed in this manner, the two stacking devices are arranged side by side, and the two second carriers are located therein. Therefore, a large installation space is required, so that the entire device is liable to be large. Since the two first carriers and two second carriers are independently operated, moreover, the operation of the entire device is complicated and may constitute a hindrance to higher-speed operation.